


Immortality

by killerofcanon



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8158352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerofcanon/pseuds/killerofcanon
Summary: Some things have Carlos questioning the stability of what he has with Cecil...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is my shortest work yet, but I kind of like it, I guess. I hope you do too!

“Cecil,” Carlos finally spoke after a long internal tribulation over whether to not just let the whole thing go. It just seemed like it was kind of a big deal, right? And if his suspicions were correct, that could have disastrous consequences on the life he and Cecil had built together, so he needed to at least bring it up, right?  
“What is it, lovely Carlos?” Cecil responded, not looking up. He was jotting some ideas down in a journal with a not-pen.   
“Are there any cases of… immortality, in Night Vale?” Carlos asked, forcing out the words yet still trying to sound casual.  
“What a silly question. Of course there are,” Cecil said obviously.  
“Cecil, you know I know hardly anything about Night Vale that I didn’t learn from you,” Carlos pointed out, slightly hurt.  
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Immortality is reserved for high-ranking Secret Police and those they wish to see suffer for much longer than natural.” Cecil still did not look up, completely unaware of the horror of his statement. Carlos pretended to be unaffected.   
“Those are the only cases?” Carlos reiterated.  
“What’s with the fascination over immortality, Carlos? Are you worried about the gray in your hair again? How many times do I have to tell you that you’re gorgeous before you actually believe me.” Cecil glanced up for a moment to make comforting eye contact with Carlos and grin. Carlos grinned back, only weakly.  
“That’s… well, thank you, but that’s not what this is about.” Carlos rubbed his arm nervously.  
“What then?” Cecil closed the book and scooted closer on the couch to Carlos, now concerned.  
“Well, with some of the things that have been on the station on days that you haven’t, I’m growing concerned that you’ve been alive for over a century, and that’s… upsetting to me.” Carlos confessed.  
“You think I’m immortal?” Cecil looked like the notion was ridiculous.  
“Yes. Those old tapes that your radio host predecessor played while you were with me in the desert otherworld featured you talking like it was the 1930s. And you spoke in another like the radio hadn’t even been invented yet. And on shows when Earl asked what year you graduated or were born, you spoke over him and changed the subject,” Carlos blurted. Cecil looked down at the floor.   
“Carlos, memories cannot be trusted.” Cecil reminded him. Carlos scooted and awkwardly brushed through his hair with his hand.  
“Are you saying you don’t remember anything about all of that?” Carlos asked. Cecil said nothing for a long moment. It seemed as he was gathering his thoughts.  
“Carlos. Darling, amazing Carlos. Linear time has never… applied to me. The ‘Cecil’ that you know jumps from time to time irrationally. It’s… it’s really best not to think about it.” Cecil stared into Carlos’s eyes, trying to appeal to him.  
“I know, Cecil, and if Night Vale has taught me anything, it’s that there are some things that not even a scientist should question, but… this worries me.” Cecil moved himself so that he and Carlos’s bodies were touching. He wrapped an arm around Carlos and pulled him in.  
“Why?” He asked.  
“Because- because I don’t want to grow old and wither into nothing while you stay looking like this forever and going on without me.” Carlos stuttered out.  
“Oh, sweet Carlos. It’s very unlikely that either of us will live to grow old.” Carlos glared at him as if to say with his eyes, ‘is this really the time for that’. “Okay, I’m sorry. Assuming that the life expectancy was your perception of normal, then… I don’t know, Carlos. I’ve been physically aging normally for the past, oh… decade? Maybe two decades? If not normally, then slightly slowed. But you don’t need to worry about the future while we’re right here in the present.”  
“But what if, say, we have children and you have to finish raising them because you long outlive me, and wouldn’t that all just be painful for you?” Carlos blurted, blushing once he realized what he had said.  
“Children?” Cecil asked, eyes widening. Carlos couldn’t tell if his eyes were widening in a good or the bad way.   
“Yeah, I mean, hypothetically. You treat Janice so much like your daughter that I thought you might want to have your own… some day.” Carlos tried to backtrack.  
“I would. Some day.” Cecil smiled.  
“Oh. Um, me too.” Carlos looked away and blushed. Cecil tipped Carlos’s chin back to face him and placed a kiss on his soft lips.   
“You don’t have to worry, Carlos. I’m going to be around for an appropriately long time, and I’m going to make sure that you are too.” That last part was so determined that Carlos got chills. He knew for a fact right then that Cecil would take on any force that this town threw at him if it meant protecting Carlos. The thought made Carlos’s heart soar. He kissed Cecil again.   
“I don’t know if I can let this go, Cecil,” Carlos confessed.  
“Oh, sweet Carlos. You need to live in the present, or at least your own version of it.” Cecil rubbed Carlos’s cheek with his thumb.  
“I just need to stop thinking about it.” Carlos shook his head.  
“So you’re saying you need a distraction?” Cecil raised an eyebrow. Carlos looked at him, amused and skeptical. Cecil lunged over the couch and sat on Carlos’s lap. He kissed him hard, and it didn’t take long for Carlos to forget all about… whatever was stressing him out.


End file.
